The Bad, the Italian, and the Good
by pingo1387
Summary: Feliciano Vargas-Edelstein continues his high school experience with junior year. Human!AU, high school. Same pairings as previous story. Mainly Feli's perspective, switches to other characters occasionally.
1. The Return, the Reunion, and the Reveal

**Yo! We're back at last!**

**This is, of course, the sequel to The Good, the Bad, and the Italian. If you haven't read that story, please do so here before reading this one:**

** /s/8716111/1/The-Good-the-Bad-and-the-Italian**

**And now that you've done that, back to this story! We're continuing the story with junior year, so we've got new classes and new relationships :) I've got some stuff planned for this year, and it looks to be an interesting one! A few backstories, a few situations . . . it's gonna be fun!**

**Before you even say it - yes, I am _creative_ when it comes to chapter titles. Hold your applause, please.**

* * *

"Feli . . . Feli, wake up!"

I turned over on my side, opened my eyes, and said, "What's going on, Eliza?"

She appeared a little bit blurry, so I blinked until my vision focused. She smiled and said, "Feli, you've got to go to school today. First day, remember?"

I sat up, suddenly wide awake. "I forgot!" I gasped, flinging back the covers. "Am I late?"

"No, don't worry, you've got—" she looked at my clock. "—about a half hour before you have to go."

"Oh, okay," I said, relieved. I lay back down, pulled the covers over my head, and shut my eyes.

"Feli!" Eliza said with a laugh. "Don't you want time for breakfast?"

"Okay," I mumbled, sitting up again. "I'll get my uniform on . . ."

"Make sure that you have all your things, too."

When I came downstairs, Eliza was cooking at the stove and stepfather was reading the paper at the table. "Good morning, Feliciano," he said, briefly glancing up. "Did you sleep well?"

"Morning, stepfather!" I said, sitting down. "Yeah, I slept great!"

Eliza brought two plates of scrambled eggs and bacon to the table.

"Thanks, stepmother!" I said happily.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," stepfather said, not looking up from his paper.

By the time I finished eating, it was time to go, so I grabbed my backpack, said goodbye to Eliza and stepfather, and went out the door.

It was a lot shorter getting to school than I thought it was. I arrived and looked at the schedule I had gotten in the mail a few days ago. My first class was Algebra, so I went to find it.

I reached the classroom, went in, and saw Al looking around at the desks. He looked up when he saw me and grinned.

"Hey, Feli!" he yelled. He was next to me before I noticed that he had moved and gave me a hug. "How was your summer, dude?"

"It was good!" I said. "How was yours?"

"It was _super_," he said, letting go and looking me up and down. "Is it just me, or did you get a little tan?"

"Yeah!" I said. "You got tan too!"

He laughed. "Yep! Me and my family went to the beach and Mattie and I swam a bunch!"

"Did you go on dates with Mei?" I asked, remembering that they were going out.

"Yeah!" he said, brightening suddenly. "She says that her dad _really_ wants to meet me, so I gotta go over there for dinner real soon! Gil actually came over and met our parents, and they liked him, so Mattie's happy about that. And Mattie went over to Gil's house for dinner, and Gil's dad likes him, so Gil's happy about that too!"

He said all of this very fast. "That sounds cool!" I said. "Lovi and Toni have been really busy this summer, so I haven't seen them a bunch, but we'll have lunch together so we'll see them then!"

"Oh yeah, Artie and his bros came over for dinner once," Al remembered. "Colin and James—they put something in Artie's food and he had to drink like five glasses of water." He grinned. "I like those guys."

"His brothers?" I asked. "What about his parents?"

"Oh," Al said, his smile fading a bit. "Well, Artie's mom—my dad's sis—she died when Artie was young. I think Mattie and me were six. And his dad got hit by a car while Aunt Lily was carrying Artie, so . . . yeah. Anyway, a bunch of stuff happened, and now Artie's oldest stepbro is taking care of the whole family."

"Oh, that's sad," I said quietly. "Poor Artie."

"Yeah," Al agreed. "But hey, the family's doing good, so I guess everything's fine with him! Have you seen Ludwig at all this summer?"

"Not really," I admitted.

"Oh, good god, I'm stuck with you."

We turned to see Francis coming through the door.

"Hey!" Al yelled. "Whaddya mean 'stuck with you'? What's wrong with Feli?"

"What?" I said. "Y-You don't like me?"

"Yeah, Francis, what the hell!"

"Oh, for—I meant _you_, Alfred!" Francis snapped. He smiled at me. "Hi, Feli."

"Oh, you meant him," I said. "Hi!"

"Okay, what the hell!" Al yelled. "What's wrong with _me_?"

"You're annoying!" Francis exclaimed. "You move and speak much too quickly!"

"What? I just move like I always do!"

"That's exactly the problem!"

The bell rang and we all went to sit down.

* * *

For second period I had world history and Herc and Kiku were in my class. They had had a good summer too. In third, English, I met with Lovi, who shoved me off when I tried to hug him.

Finally it was lunchtime. I had bought my lunch and was looking around for my friends. I eventually saw Ludwig at a table and went over to join him.

"Hi, Ludwig!" I said, hugging him when I reached him. "Did you have a good summer?"

He hugged me back. "Hello, Feliciano—I had a good summer, yes. How was yours?"

"It was great!"

"There you guys are!" I looked up to see Gil dragging Matt over to the table. "Hey, Feli!"

"Hi!" I said. "Did you guys have a good summer? Al told me that you both went over to each others' houses for dinner!"

"Yeah, that was cool," Gil said, sitting down with Matt. "Mattie's parents are awesome, and _vati_ likes Mattie, so everything's awesome."

"Hi, Feli," Matt said quietly. "How was your summer?"

"It was great!"

"Well," said Artie, sitting next to Al, "judging by your tans, you all had a fun summer."

"Hi, Artie!" I said. "Yeah, it was good!"

"Ah, our resident bookworm," Francis said with a smile. "I hardly saw you at all this summer, Arthur."

"Your point?" Artie said in a bored voice. "Besides, I've been rather busy."

"With what?"

"Oh . . . research."

Toni and Lovi found us and sat down. "Hi, everyone!" Toni exclaimed. "Lovi and I had a great summer! How was yours?"

"Yeah, if you can call lifting boxes great," Lovi grumbled.

"Hi, Toni!" I said.

"Does anyone mind if I sit here?"

We all looked up to see Mei Wang standing next to the table with a lunch tray.

"Mei!" Al yelled. He stood and grabbed her in a hug. "How was your summer, beautiful?"

"It was good," she said. "I'm glad I got to see you!"

She sat next to him, taking his enthusiasm as an invitation.

"Where are Hercules and Kiku?" Artie asked, looking around. "I haven't seen them today."

"They're here," I said. "I saw them in history."

"Oh, there they are," Toni said, looking towards the cafeteria doors, where Kiku and Herc were coming in. They came over to our table and sat down.

"Hello, everyone," Kiku said. "I'm sorry that we're late. Hercules fell asleep at the end of the third class, so I waited with him until he woke up."

"Yeah . . . it's my fault," Herc said sleepily. "Sorry."

"It's okay, dude!" Al said.

"How was—were your summers?" Kiku asked.

"Great," Al said. "Kiku, your English has gotten better!"

"Ah, thank you, Alfred-_kun_."

"Anyway, Lovi and I had a great summer," Toni repeated, putting an arm around Lovi and kissing him on the cheek.

Everyone stared at them.

"You two are—?" Matt said in surprise.

"About time!" Gil yelled. "Congrats!"

"Shut up," Lovi snapped.

"Wait, are you two _dating_?" I asked.

"Yeah," Lovi muttered. "It just kinda happened."

"Ah," Francis said, suddenly smirking. "You two are an item now—and you only have one bed in your apartment, correct?"

Lovi turned red. "Oh my _god_, you fucking _pervert_!" he yelled. "Don't imply things like that!"

"He's just teasing, Lovi," Toni said reassuringly.

I suddenly understood what they were talking about. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "You think they're having sex!"

Al choked on his milk and Gil cracked up.

"Feliciano," Lovi growled. "You are not helping _anything_."

"Sorry . . ."

"Congratulations," Mei said softly. Toni smiled at her and Lovi looked away.

We all happily ate our lunches and chatted until the bell rang for fourth period.


	2. The Gym, the Photoshop, and the Warning

My next class, Painting II, passed by very quickly. We all practiced painting a still-life—a vase of flowers in the middle of the room.

In fifth period, I finished changing and walked out of the locker room. Almost immediately I spotted Ludwig in the gym.

"Hi!" I called. He turned, saw me, and waved.

"Feliciano!" he said with a smile. "How has your day been going?"

"It's great! How's yours?"

"Just fine," he said.

"Are you taking painting again this year?" I asked. "I didn't see you in my class."

"Ah . . ." he said. "I'm not. I really don't have a talent for painting, and I have other classes I need to take."

"Aw, I thought you were improving," I said, "but if you don't wanna do it, then okay."

The gym teacher, Mr. Hobson, made us run a few laps around the track outside. I wasn't good at running, so it was really hard for me.

"Feliciano, pick up the pace," Ludwig said, slowing down to come back to me. "Really, a few laps are nothing you shouldn't be able to handle."

"I . . . don't like . . . running . . ." I panted, slowing down more.

"You'd better learn to like it in this class," he said sternly.

After what felt like an eternity, class ended and we went back to change before the bell rang.

When I went into my sixth period, Computer Graphics, Al was already there, sitting in the back row. "Feli!" He yelled, causing the teacher to give him an annoyed look. "Dude, I didn't know you were in this class!"

"Hi, Al!" I said. "I didn't know you'd be here either!"

"Awesome, we can have a party!"

We turned to see Gil entering the class. "Hey, guys!" he exclaimed, earning another annoyed look from the teacher. "You guys are awesome, I'm glad you're in this class too!"

Eventually the bell rang and we all sat together in the back row. The teacher, Mr. Wang, told us about the class and said that we'd practice using Photoshop today.

"Okay, Alfie, hold still," Gil muttered. Al looked up at him and Gil snapped a picture with his phone.

"Hey!" Al protested. Gil snickered, did something with his phone, and then looked at his email on the computer, where he had sent the picture of Al to himself. He dragged it into Photoshop and started playing around for a few minutes.

"Ta-dah!" He said, turning the monitor to us. He had given Al a really long tongue sticking out of his mouth, eyeballs all over his face, and colored his hair green.

"Nice," Al muttered, snickering. "I get to do you next."

"You're really good at that!" I said, looking at the picture.

"Thanks, Feli! Hey, hold still—" before I could do anything, he took a picture of me.

"Gil, you're next!" Al took a picture of Gil.

"I wanna try too!" I exclaimed, reaching over to my backpack to dig my phone out.

"Oh, this is great," Al said a few minutes later. He showed us the picture of Gil he had taken; he had given him a handlebar mustache and long ears.

"You're so creative," Gil said jokingly. "Feli, this is you—" he turned his monitor towards me. He had made my eyes very large and turned my hair blue.

I laughed. "Cool!"

"Feli, what'd you do with us?" Al asked, leaning over to look at my screen. "'cause you took pictures of our whole bodies, not just a headshot—whoa."

I had given Gil a spacesuit and a gun, and turned Al green and given him antennae. They were on the moon and having a space battle.

"That is _awesome_," Gil said. "I look so cool!"

"Why the hell am I an alien!?" Al demanded. "I mean I look cool and all, but am I the bad guy!?"

"I dunno," I said.

"How the hell did you _do_ this on your first day!?" Gil exclaimed.

"I just played around with stuff until I figured it out," I said. "Why?"

"Because you're great at this," Al said.

"Thanks!"

"Feli, send it to me, I wanna save that picture."

The bell rang and we packed up, stood, and left. Gil and Al went for their bus and I waved goodbye as I headed down the sidewalk.

"Feli!" Eliza said as I came in. "How was your day?"

I heard stepfather practicing his piano.

"It was good," I said. She led me to the kitchen table and started fixing a snack.

"How's everyone doing?" She asked. "Is Lovi doing okay?"

"He's fine!" I said quietly. "He and Toni are dating now."

Her eyes widened and she smiled. "Oh, that's _wonderful_! I hope they're happy together!"

I nodded. "They seem happy!"

She brought some sliced fruit to the table. "Feli, listen," she said quietly. "Are any of your other friends . . . do you have any other friends who are boys dating boys?"

I nodded. "Gil and Matt are going out."

"I hate to ask, but . . . could you refrain from mentioning that to your stepfather?"

"Why?"

"He doesn't really—approve of that kind of thing," she said.

"Why?" I asked. "What's wrong with it?"

She sighed. "I don't see anything wrong with it, but some people think it's . . . wrong. Anyway, just—please don't mention it to him."

"Okay," I said quietly.

She smiled. "Thanks, Feli."


	3. The Romans, the Notes, and the Book

**I am so easily distracted, it's irritating. Like, I'm playing Town of Salem, a game on Armor Games, and I just downloaded OFF and Yume Nikki. I need to get my shit together, seriously.**

* * *

"As you can see here, according to legend, Rome was founded when Remus and Romulus, the twins raised by wolves, fought over the name; Remus killed Romulus accidentally and named the city in his brother's honor. Keep in mind that this is only a legend and has no basis in historical findings other than stories passed down . . ."

Ms. Burton, the history teacher, was talking about the info on the PowerPoint slide on the screen.

"They were raised by wolves?" I whispered to Herc.

He shrugged. "That's what . . . the story says."

"Wow," I whispered. "I wonder how they learned to speak English?"

He looked at me. "They probably didn't . . . since the ancient Romans . . . spoke Latin, right?"

"Oh, yeah."

Kiku, next to Herc, seemed to be concentrating on copying down the information while listening to the teacher.

"Now," Ms. Burton continued, clicking to the next slide, "Rome was at first ruled by kings and called the Roman Kingdom. However, the people grew tired of being ruled by tyrannical kings and overthrew their rulers, after which the Roman Republic was established along with the Roman Empire."

"What do these words mean?" Kiku whispered to Herc, showing him what he had written.

"Hm . . ." Herc looked over. "This one is about a tyrant . . . a tyrant is a leader who . . . uses his power to be unfair . . . and cruel."

Kiku wrote it down.

"And this one . . . means that they got rid . . . of the rulers."

"Thank you," Kiku said quietly.

Ms. Burton kept going through slides, talking about aqueducts and how the Roman Empire kept growing.

"How could something so big be gone now?" I whispered.

Herc shrugged. "The bigger they are . . . the harder they fall. Rome . . . got too big. But . . . Italy's still around."

"The Roman Empire became two empires," Kiku said quietly. "The east one was named the—_Bizanchin_ Empire . . . ?"

"Byzantine," Herc whispered.

"Thank you."

"You guys are really smart," I whispered.

"I studied the Roman Empire before," Kiku explained. "I don't remember a lot of details."

"Feliciano, Hercules, Kiku, stop that chatting," Ms. Burton snapped at us. We shut our mouths and started writing notes again.

* * *

"Hi, Lovi!" I exclaimed as I walked into English. "Guess what? We learned about the Roman Empire in history!"

"Uh, Feliciano?" he said. "No offense, but I don't give a shit."

"And Kiku and Herc already knew a bunch of stuff!" I continued, setting my stuff down.

"Yeah, great," he said.

"And there were these twins who were raised by—"

"Feliciano."

"What?"

"I really don't care. Besides, I have that class first thing, so I already learned about it."

"Oh."

The bell rang and Ms. Kim started teaching us about famous authors in the 19th and 20th centuries. She talked about H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, L. Frank Baum, and J.D. Salinger.

Near the end of class she gave us an assignment. "Now, I want you all to read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Since so many people wanted him to write more, he wrote several sequels to it, but we won't be reading them in class." She passed out the books. "And _don't_ think you can get away with watching the movie."

There was some muttering and snickering at this.

"I mean it," she said sternly. "If I found out that you watched the movie and didn't read the book, I'm taking a point off of your grade."

"I hate reading for class," I complained to Lovi. "It's a lot more fun to read books that you pick out by yourself."

"I dunno," he said, shrugging. "I like picking out books by myself, but I might never have read this book if not for class. Anyway, the discussion points out things that I probably missed."

I shrugged. "I might just watch the movie, if Eliza can get it on the TV . . ."

"Seriously, don't," he said. "Have you ever read a book and then seen the movie?"

"No."

He sighed. "Remember when we saw the Harry Potter movie with _nonno_?"

I nodded.

"I read the book and the movie was actually pretty good about sticking to it, but it did leave a lot of stuff out. Point is, mostly based on what I've heard, movies either leave out stuff from the books or change a bunch of things."

"Who've you heard it from?" I asked curiously.

He sighed. "Arthur. He says that the movies were good but they don't do the books justice. He also was really pissed about how they changed the ending to the entire series in the last film."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know, they're fucking stupid. I'm not watching the movies anytime soon."

The bell rang.

* * *

**Excuse me, I have to go put The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on hold now so I can actually be accurate later on**

**Also I should probably watch the movie because I haven't seen it in years**

**Haha**

**[curls up in corner]**


	4. The Run, the Detective, and the Beer

**Hi! I was on vacation for a couple weeks but I'm back now. I meant to have a double update today, but I had no ideas for the chapter after this one, so I'll try for a double update next week instead. If not then, the week after that. **

* * *

In gym we did laps around the track again, and again I started falling behind. Ludwig slowed his pace to be next to me.

"Feliciano, come on now," he said impatiently. "You can do it."

"I still . . . don't like running . . ." I gasped. I sat down on the grassy field. "Leave me behind . . . keep going . . ."

He tapped my head. "Don't be so dramatic. Get up."

"No . . ."

He grabbed my arms and quickly stood me up.

"Hey!"

"If you don't run, you'll get points taken off." He started running again, leaving me behind.

"Don't leave me," I cried, running after him until I had caught up.

"See, you _can_ run."

"Oh . . ." I gasped, slowing down again. "So tired . . ."

"Feliciano!"

About halfway through class we stopped doing laps and were allowed to hang around and chat with people. I flopped onto the grass and stared up at the sky. Then I saw Ludwig appear over me, staring down.

"Hi," I said, gasping for air.

He sat down next to me. "You realize that we were running for only about half an hour, right?"

"But it felt like _so long_," I complained.

"If you exercised more, you'd be stronger," he said sternly.

"I'd rather drive places," I said.

"I got my license a while ago," he said, "but I didn't know you had yours . . ."

"I don't," I replied cheerfully. "I've taken the test about five times but I keep failing it."

". . . Why?"

"'cause I keep going over the speed limit. I'm gonna try again in a week."

He looked up and sighed.

"Hey," I said, remembering. "Did you find the girl you like yet?"

He looked down now. "No. I just . . . I haven't had any luck at all. I wish I had enough money to hire a detective."

"Ooh, that'd be cool!" I said. "Detectives are really smart! Last night Eliza and I watched Sherlock when stepfather was out! I didn't really get everything that he was saying but it sounded cool!"

He stared at me.

"What?"

* * *

In Computer Graphics, Mr. Wang told us all that for a few days we were gonna design a logo. He said that it could be for anything we wanted and then he told us to get to work, took out a book, and started reading.

"Fuckin' lazy teacher," Gil mumbled. He pulled out a copy of the tutorial book and started skimming the contents.

"I'm gonna make my own logo," Al said, pulling up Photoshop.

"Yeah, that's the _assignment_, idiot," Gil said, smirking.

"I mean—I'm gonna make up something to make a logo for!" Al said. "I'm, like, not gonna use something that's already a thing, like Burger Lord or Scarlet Finch!"

"Whatever," Gil said, putting down the book and opening the program.

Al scowled. "Whatever . . . your _face_. Feli, what're you gonna do?"

"I dunno," I said, shrugging. "We have a few days, so maybe we don't have to do it right away . . ."

"Hey, yeah!" Gil said, pushing his keyboard away.

"Awesome!" Al exclaimed, closing the program. "Let's just party back here!"

"I brought beer," Gil said cheerfully, pulling out a cardboard box from his backpack. He handed me and Al a can each.

"Isn't alcohol not allowed?" I asked.

"No, wait, this is root beer," Al said, examining his can and laughing.

Gil snickered. "Yeah, but it's still good."

"Hey!" Mr. Wang called, looking over his book. "You three, no drinks in the computer lab!"

Gil scowled and shoved the cans back in his backpack. Al and I put ours away too.

"Stupid rule," Gil muttered. "Not gonna spill it or anything."

"I guess food is out too," Al sighed.

Gil rolled his eyes. "Well, you eat so quickly I doubt he'd notice before it was gone."

Al blinked. "Quickly?"

"Never mind."


	5. The Drive, the Concern, and the Question

**Hooray, double update!**

* * *

"Feli?"

I looked up from my bed. I had been trying to read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz but it was really hard to get started so I had put the book aside.

Eliza smiled. "Your stepfather's busy scheduling concerts right now. Do you want to take the car out and get some driving practice done before your test?"

"Okay," I agreed, jumping up. I followed her outside and got in the car. It took me a second to realize that I had forgotten the keys.

Eliza slid into the passenger seat and handed me the keys. I gave her a sheepish smile and started up the car after checking the seat height and mirrors.

"So where are we going?" I asked as I started going down the street.

"I need to go to the store," she said. "I need to get more fruit and veggies, and some bread, and pasta for when your stepfather isn't home . . ."

"Pasta!" I exclaimed happily.

"Feli, you're going too fast again," she scolded. I hastily took my foot off of the pedal to slow down. Eliza turned on the radio and a song was playing that I didn't recognize.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Slow down!" she said. I quickly took my foot off of the pedal again. "I love this song! It's called 'Running in the '90s'."

"Oh, I've never heard it before," I said, coming to a sudden halt as the stoplight turned red.

"I'm not surprised," she said wryly. "Most of the music you hear must come from your stepfather, and hell will freeze over the day _he_ plays a modern song."

After a moment of silence she sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that . . ."

"It's okay," I said cheerfully.

"Feli, you need your turn signal on."

As I turned into the parking lot of the plaza, I commented, "Lovi and Toni don't live too far from here, I think."

"Really?" she said.

I nodded. "They walk and bike everywhere and Toni mentioned that they get groceries once a week, so I think they live close to here."

I finished parking and we got out of the car.

"They're doing alright, aren't they?" Eliza said in a worried tone.

"Yeah," I said cheerfully. "I mean, I think so. Lovi doesn't tell me much, but he doesn't complain a lot."

She glanced at me.

"I mean . . . he complains a lot less than he would if things were bad," I said.

"He always was pessimistic," she said fondly. "Oh, Feli, you can pick out the pasta."

"Yay!"

* * *

I got us out of the parking lot without bumping into anything. When we reached the stoplight and I brought us to a sudden halt again, Eliza waited a moment before speaking.

"Feli?" she said hesitantly.

"Hm?"

She looked up. "Do you ever . . . get nervous while driving . . . ?"

"All the time," I admitted.

"Ah," she sighed. "I was only thinking—after what happened to Reg—I mean, your grandpa—"

I bit my lip. "I think about that a lot . . . when I'm driving, actually . . ."

"I'm sorry, I don't want to upset you," she said quickly.

"No, it's okay," I said. "I just have to be extra careful and not get too nervous . . . anyway, _nonno_ didn't do anything wrong, right? I remember I heard it was the other person's fault . . ."

"That's right," she said. "Your grandpa was always a good driver . . . he sometimes went too fast, but a good driver otherwise. A very kind and funny man . . ."

"Yeah," I said cheerfully. "He could always make me laugh."

The light turned green and I moved us forward.

"Hey, Eliza?" I said. "Do you know what happened to _nonna_?"

"Your grandma?" she asked. "Well . . . don't tell your stepfather this, because I don't think he knows, and that's better for everyone . . ."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Your grandpa was bisexual," she explained. "It means that he liked both men and women. He loved your grandma, but when your dad was grown up, she found out that he was bisexual and she left him."

". . . Oh," I said quietly. "Why would she leave him 'cause of that?"

"She was like your stepfather," Eliza said. "She thought that it was wrong."

"That still seems like a really dumb thing," I said. "Because . . . it doesn't really matter, right?"

Eliza smiled. "That's the kind of thinking your generation needs."

I pulled back into our driveway.

* * *

***sigh* If it were up to me, I'd just skip right to Valentine's Day for this fic . . . **

**Wait . . . I'm the authoress . . . it _is_ up to me . . . **

**. . . **

**. . . nah. I'll make you guys wait.**


	6. The Meet, the Walk, and the Birds

**So uh, this chapter and the two after it take place in mid-October.**

**Narrator: Matthew**

* * *

I waited on the street corner where Gil and I had agreed to meet. Not long after I got there, I saw Gil coming down the street. When he reached me, he stopped and grinned.

"Hey, Mattie!" he said cheerfully, his breath coming out in small clouds. "You weren't waiting long, right?"

I shook my head. "Not long, no. What're we doing today?"

He froze in the act of scratching his head and seemed to be thinking. "Uh . . . I dunno."

"What?"

He grinned. "I . . . I didn't really think of anything to do."

I sighed. "Well, that's okay. We can think of something . . ." I looked around and pointed to the woods a little ways off. "How about we . . . um . . . take a walk in the woods, and then . . . go to that café in town?"

He glanced over at the woods.

"Uh—sure," he said after a moment. "That—that sounds good. Yeah."

I looked at him, worried. "I-If you don't want to, that's okay . . ."

"No, no, it's fine," he said. "I just—let's go."

We started off down the street, heading for the woods.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked, noticing that he was looking around as if expecting something to jump out. "We can turn back . . . it's not a big deal . . ."

"Nah, it's okay," he muttered, still looking around. "Maybe it won't happen this time."

We had taken a few more steps when there was a sudden sound of fluttering. I glanced around and to my surprise saw that a chickadee had landed on Gil's shoulder.

"Oh, that's so cute!" I exclaimed. Gil frowned and tried to brush the bird off, but it merely fluttered and landed back on his shoulder.

"I think it likes you," I said with a smile as it twittered.

There was more fluttering and a small sparrow landed on his other shoulder.

"Wow," I said in surprise. "Birds aren't usually this friendly, are they . . . ?"

The chickadee hopped closer to his neck and a crow landed next to it.

"Um . . ."

Gil sighed and stuck out his arms. A small yellow bird flew down and perched near his elbow.

After a few minutes, Gil's arms were covered in birds. Crows, sparrows, chickadees, that one unidentifiable yellow bird, a cardinal and a Steller's jay—a red-tailed hawk had claimed his head.

Gil sighed. "Mattie, before you ask: this happens every time I come in these woods, I don't know why, and I can't get them off."

I stared at him. "That's . . . actually really cute . . ."

He smirked. "Well, whatever's on my head, its claws hurt like hell."

"It's a hawk."

"That explains why it's so heavy."

"Do you want me to get it off . . . ?"

"Nah, it's fine. They'll get off once we're outta the woods."

". . . Can I take a picture?"

"Yeah, but _don't_ show it to your bro," he emphasized, halting his stride as I took out my phone.

I smiled. "No problem," I said, and I snapped the picture.

We kept walking until we came out into a different street than we had started on. One by one, the birds fluttered off of Gil's arms and head until they were all gone.

He groaned with relief and dropped his arms. "You'd think a bunch of little birds wouldn't weigh so much," he grumbled.

We continued walking.

"I call the yellow one Gilbird," he said.

I glanced at him.

"Y'know, after me," he explained. "Gilbert? Gilbird?"

I smiled. "You named him?"

"Well, yeah, he's like the only one that shows up every time."

". . . Have you ever considered a career in ornithology?"

"What's that? No, wait—study of birds?"

I nodded.

"No way," he said firmly. "I'm not even that interested in them. They just come to me."

We continued walking in silence for another minute or two.

"I guess you could say I'm a chick magnet."

Both of us burst out laughing at this.


	7. The Dinner, the Questions, and the Slap

**what this isn't a day late what are you talking about you are wrong stop being wrong**

**Narrator: Mei**

* * *

I waited nervously in the sitting room with dad, waiting for Al to show up. I hoped that he remembered to dress nicely—dad was in slacks and a sports jacket, and I was wearing a long skirt and nice shirt.

I glanced up at the clock. It was only a bit past 7:30, but my dad, noticing this too, snapped, "He's late."

I frowned. "It's only been two minutes, dad."

He folded his arms and glowered. He was old-fashioned about a lot of things—for some reason, hair was one of the few things he _didn't_ care about. His was long and tied back in a neat ponytail.

There was a loud knock from the front door, to the rhythm of the Can-Can. I jumped up and went down the steps, where I opened the door to find Al. He had a big grin on his face and was thankfully wearing a jacket and nice jeans.

"Hey, beautiful," he said cheerfully. "Hope I'm not too late?"

"Not at all," I said, smiling back. "Come in—here, your shoes can go here . . ."

I led him back up the steps to where dad was still waiting stiffly. "Dad," I said nervously, "this is Alfred. Alfred, this is my dad."

He approached my dad with a confident smile. "Hey, Mr. Wang," he said cheerfully. "Nice to meet you!"

He held out his hand. Dad stood and took it, shaking firmly.

"It's good to meet you too, Alfred," he said. "I wouldn't want my daughter to date someone I've never met."

He looked at me as he said this, as if it were my fault that we had only recently been able to arrange a dinner date like this.

"Course not," Al replied cheerfully, missing the glance. "So . . . dinner?"

Dad raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it's on the table. Come in."

The three of us went to the dining room, where the steak and potatoes were still resting.

"Wow, this looks _delicious_," Al said eagerly, sitting down. "Which one of you made it?"

"I did," I said with a smile.

"Awesome!" Al carefully lifted a slice of steak and a spoonful of potatoes onto his plate and took a bite. "Mei, this tastes great!"

"Thank you," I said, smiling. Dad and I served ourselves as well and we all dug in.

"So, Alfred," dad said, looking at him. "What do you do?"

"Do?" Al said blankly. I noticed that he had already finished off the potatoes.

"For work," he clarified. "What kind of job do you have?"

"Oh, I don't really have one," Al said cheerfully, scooping more potatoes onto his plate (his steak had mysteriously vanished). "I did some stuff over the summer, but that was just summer, y'know? I'll probably do something next summer too."

Dad nodded coolly. "And your parents?"

"What about them?"

He sighed. "What do your parents do for work, Alfred?"

"Mom's a transcriptionist—y'know, those guys who type up reports and stuff—and dad's a janitor at the elementary."

"I see," dad said. He didn't bring up the subject again.

"Um . . . so what do _you_ do?" Al asked curiously.

"I own a small company," he replied.

"Whoa, nice!" Al said appreciatively. His plate was clean already.

The rest of the dinner passed mostly in silence. When everyone was finished, my dad stood and said, "It was nice to meet you, Alfred. Have a good night," and held out his hand. Al seemed surprised but shrugged and shook hands.

"Yeah, thanks for having me over," he said. "Mei—you're an awesome cook."

"Thanks," I said, smiling. I led him back to the front door. He kissed me goodbye and started to leave, only to turn back after realizing he had forgotten his shoes.

With all his clothes finally on, he left. I went back upstairs to clear away the table.

After I had finished washing dishes, dad said, "Mei, we need to talk. Come with me."

We went back to the sitting room, where he stood next to a chair. I stood across from him nervously.

"I don't want you seeing that boy," he said bluntly.

I froze.

"Why?" I asked finally.

He glowered. "He's an annoying and lazy good-for-nothing. He eats like a pig and his parents are lazy too."

"What?" I exclaimed. "His parents have good jobs!"

"A janitor is _not_ a good job!" he snapped. "Mei, think about your poor mother! She wouldn't want you to date this boy either!"

"Don't drag mom into this!" I yelled. "You can't just use her every time you want me to do something! 'Mom wouldn't want', or 'Mom would want', all the time!"

"The next time you see this boy," he yelled, "you tell him that you can't date him anymore!"

"No!" I exclaimed. "Dad, I love him! And he loves m—"

He slapped me hard across the face. Tears filled my eyes and I glared back at him.

"Do _not_ talk back to me," he said in a low voice. "Do you understand, young lady? Now _go to bed_, and you tell him at school that you're not going to date him anymore!"

I bit my lip, lowered my eyes, and nodded, turning around to go back to my room. I closed the door, threw myself onto my bed, and cried into my pillow.


	8. The Cats, the Traditions, and the Idea

**UGH I'M SORRY THIS IS LATE I SUCK SO MUCH [stands upon roof, cries into night sky] I'M SORRY**

**Narrator: Kiku**

* * *

"Hm . . . Kiku?"

I looked to see Hercules looking at me. "What is it?" I asked him.

"Did you know that . . . Halloween's coming up soon?"

I nodded. "Yes, I remember. Why did you ask?"

He looked again to the cat he was petting. "I was wondering . . . if you do Halloween . . . in Japan."

A cat moved her head against my hand and purred. I scratched her ears. "In Japan, we—"

I looked at him again and I saw that he was very still. His eyes closed and he fell back; I reached and caught him. While holding him with one hand, I took off my jacket with my other hand, folded it, and put it on the ground. I lied him on the ground with my jacket for a pillow.

While he slept, I petted more cats. One cat curled up on his legs.

Not a lot of time passed before he woke up. He sat up and pet the cat sleeping on his legs.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "What were we . . . talking about?"

"Halloween," I said. "In Japan, we don't celebrate Halloween as much as Americans do. But during summer, we often tell stories about ghosts."

"Why summer?" he asked.

I tilted my head. "Summer is the time for ghost stories, isn't it?"

"I've never . . . heard that."

"Ah . . . it must be only in Japan."

. . .

"What kind of ghost stories?"

I thought. "There are a lot of different ones . . . a famous story is about a _samurai_ who leaves his wife and returns years later. He is happy to see her and she is happy too. But when the morning comes, he finds that he's hugging a dead body and hears his neighbors talking about the death of his wife years ago. The title is . . . Black Hair."

He hugged a striped cat purring next to him. "Creepy . . ."

"What kind of traditions do Americans have?" I asked curiously.

"Hm . . ." he said. "On Halloween . . . little kids dress up in costumes . . . and go trick-or-treating. That's . . . when you knock on someone's door . . . and ask for candy. We carve pumpkins sometimes, too . . . and teenagers and adults sometimes have parties."

"That sounds interesting," I commented. "Are any of our friends having a party this Halloween?"

He shrugged. "I wasn't planning to . . . and no one else has brought it up . . ."

I lifted my head. "I have an idea."

He looked at me.

"In Japan—we have a summer tradition of _hyakumonogatari kaidankai_. It means . . . one hundred ghost stories. What happens is this: A group of people gather together, light one hundred candles, and put a mirror in the center of a table. One person tells a ghost story, blows out a candle, and looks in the mirror. This continues with everyone taking turns until all the candles are blown out."

"That sounds interesting . . ."

"Wouldn't it be interesting if us and our friends come to my house to do the _hyakumonogatari kaidankai_?" I asked. "It can be on Halloween, and we can dress in costumes."

He was silent. I knew that he wasn't asleep, because it hadn't been long ago that he had slept.

"That sounds fun," he said. "We can bring it up . . . at next lunchtime."

"I wonder where I can buy candles," I said to myself quietly.

"We can all . . . pitch in," he said softly. "Perhaps we can all . . . buy ten candles each?"

I looked up in thought. "If we all come to it . . . and if we don't include Lovino-_kun_ and Antonio-_kun_ . . . yes, I think we can all buy ten candles."

"I'll bet that Al . . . will be really scared," he said. "He hates ghosts."

"The room will get darker every time a candle is blown out," I said. "It becomes more scary as time passes."

He smiled. "That's one way . . . to scare everyone."

. . .

"So . . . where _can_ I buy ten candles?"


	9. The Note, the Espionage, and the Grade

**Maybe I should change the schedule for this story from "Monday" to "Probably Tuesday or Wednesday TBH"**

* * *

I sat in math class and doodled on my paper while Mr. Laurinaitis talked about something. A crumpled piece of paper landed on my desk and I looked up to see Francis glance at me. I smoothed it out and read the note.

_I overheard Mei saying that she wants to talk to Alfred after class~_

At the bottom, I wrote _So? Maybe they're gonna make a date or something _

A moment later he tossed it back with the note _Or perhaps she'll propose!_ With a little drawing of a heart.

_Do people get married after dating for less than a year?_

_Usually, no_

_So . . . she's probably not gonna ask him to marry her_

_wink wink o_^_

I glanced at him and he winked twice at me.

"What're you guys talking about?" Al muttered.

"Nothing," Francis whispered, winking again. Al stuck out his tongue and turned away. I shrugged and went back to drawing.

* * *

After math class Francis told me to follow him and be quiet. We quietly followed Al until he met with Mei. When that happened, Francis pulled me into the bushes.

"What are we doing?" I whispered.

"Sh!" he hissed. "We're practicing the fine art of _eavesdropping_."

I frowned at him, but I was curious, so I stayed. Al and Mei moved farther away from the crowds, so we couldn't hear them, but we saw what was happening.

First Mei said something and then Al looked really sad and really mad. Then she said something else and he grabbed her hands and kissed her and said something while smiling. Then they walked away holding hands.

We climbed out of the bushes, attracting stares from some people.

"So . . ." I said. "What happened?"

He shrugged and looked like he was thinking. "It looked like whatever Mei said first upset Alfred . . . but the next thing she said clearly made up for it."

"Yeah, that part was kinda obvious."

We turned to see Gil and Toni coming towards us covered in twigs and leaves.

"I mean," Gil continued, brushing off some of the plant stuff, "anyone could see that, right?"

"Oh, so you two were spying on them too?" Francis asked. Gil and Toni nodded.

"We saw them going off together and I thought 'Hey, let's follow them' so I grabbed Toni and we hid in the bushes," Gil explained cheerfully.

Toni laughed. "So what did you guys think they were saying?"

I shrugged. "We couldn't hear them, so I dunno. Hey Francis, why were we listening to them in the first place?"

Francis smiled. "I told you, it's eavesdropping practice."

"Um . . . okay," I said. "Well . . . we couldn't hear them, and I gotta go to second period, so I'll see you guys later!"

* * *

Later, in third period, I sat next to Lovi.

"Hi, Feliciano," he said, getting his stuff out. "You read the book, right?"

"Oh . . . um . . ."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you watched the movie."

I looked up at the ceiling. "Well . . ."

"Goddammit Feliciano."

When class started, Ms. Kim asked us how many of us had finished the book. Everyone raised their hands.

"Good, good," she said, smiling. "Now, keep those hands up if you remember when Dorothy received the ruby slippers."

I kept my hand up, along with a few other people, but most of the class (including Lovi) put their hands down.

"Keep your hands up," she said, taking out her clipboard and writing something down. "And . . . all of you with your hands up? Your grades just went down a point."

"What?" I exclaimed. The others made similar sounds.

Ms. Kim frowned. "I warned you that if you watched the movie instead of reading the book, your grade would drop."

I sighed and looked down.

"Can't say I didn't warn you," Lovi muttered. "By the way, the shoes were silver in the book."

* * *

**Yep, Francis actually wrote "wink wink" on the paper.**


	10. The Proposal, the Pairs, and the Apology

**Me: Star bright, star light, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, I wish that I could update this story on a Monday . . .  
Star: Haha no**

**When I went to look at this story's properties, I thought I must've been looking at the wrong story at first because we've already got OVER 20 FAVES AND REVIEWS AND OVER 40 FOLLOWERS. I love you guys! I'd add a heart here if FF allowed it . . . **

**I probably could have finished this chapter earlier if I hadn't discovered a great Harry Potter fanfic . . . ah well. ONWARDS.**

* * *

At lunch, Kiku and Herc were late again. Herc said that he'd fallen asleep in his last class.

"I have an idea for Halloween," Kiku said not long after they'd sat down. "In Japan, there's a tradition of ghost stories called—"

"Ghost stories!" Al yelled. "I love ghost stories!"

"Er, yes . . . the tradition is called _hya_—"

"Aren't you scared of ghosts?" Francis asked him with a frown.

"_Hyakumonogatari kaidankai_. In English—"

"Yeah," Al said, waving a hand, "but only _real_ ghosts. Ghost stories are okay."

"Let him talk!" someone exclaimed. We looked around before realizing that it was Herc who'd said it.

"Go on," he said softly to Kiku after Francis and Al stopped talking.

"Er—thank you," Kiku said. "In English, the tradition is called one hundred ghost stories. A group of people gathers in a room at night, and one hundred candles are lighted in the room. Someone will tell a ghost story, and after he is done, he blows out a candle. Everyone takes turns until all one hundred candles are out."

"That sounds awesome," Al said immediately.

"I can't make it that day," Francis said. "Sorry."

"Uh—" Gil said. "Kiku didn't even say we were gonna do it."

"I was hoping that we could," Kiku admitted. "I want to invite everyone to my house on Halloween."

Francis shrugged. "I've got something going on that day," he said.

"Right, right," Gil said, smirking. "You're just scared of ghost stories."

Francis quickly nodded. "Who wouldn't be?"

"I'm sorry, Kiku, but I'm busy that day as well," Artie said.

"Ah," Kiku said disappointedly.

"I wanna go!" I exclaimed.

"It sounds interesting," Ludwig admitted. "I'd like to go."

"Mattie, you and me are going, okay?" Gil said, holding up Matt's hand.

"Um—okay," Matt said.

"I'd like to go too," Mei said. "If my dad lets me . . ."

Al put his arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it, babe," he said confidently. "Just, uh—don't lie, but don't tell the truth either, y'know?"

She looked uncomfortable. "I can try . . ."

"Lovi, doesn't that sound like fun?" Toni exclaimed excitedly.

Lovi shrugged. "Sure, why the hell not?"

Kiku smiled slightly. "You can wear costumes if you want. Hercules told me that costumes are a tradition in America."

"Oh yeah, definitely," Al exclaimed.

"Mattie!" Gil said. "You, me, matching costumes, okay?"

"What? Okay . . ."

"Feliciano," Ludwig said, turning to me, "would you like to wear matching costumes as well?"

"Okay!" I said. "What are we gonna be?"

"I—I'm not sure. We'll think about it later."

"Lovi—"

"We're not fucking buying costumes," Lovi said.

Toni's face fell. "Oh . . . okay."

"Mei, you wanna do matching things?" Al said.

"Maybe not . . ." she said. "I mean, I can't think of anything we could be . . ."

"Dammit, okay," Al muttered.

"I'm sure I'll . . . think of something to wear . . ." Herc said softly.

"I have an idea for what I want to wear," Kiku admitted. "Arthur, Francis, I'm sorry that both of you can't come."

Artie shrugged. "It can't be helped, I'm afraid. To be honest, we weren't going to tell you lot, but Francis is actually visiting my house that night."

"Oh yeah?" Gil said, looking back and forth between Francis and Artie, the first of who was staring at Artie.

Artie nodded. "We wanted time to discuss the book we're going to read in English."

"You two are weirdoes," Al said cheerfully, sitting back down. I couldn't remember when he'd gotten up to throw away his lunch tray.

The bell rang and we all went to our next class.

* * *

**Oh yeah, lunar eclipse tonight. I'm gonna try to see it, though since I'm a Seattleite it's probably going to be too cloudy outside. Hopefully it _won't_ be, since this doesn't happen often . . . SCIENCE! It does you good.**

**(If you're reading this past the date of October 8 the lunar eclipse thing is probably irrelevant)**


	11. The Race, the Thing, and the Telepathy

**I had a rather physically taxing day yesterday and a mentally taxing one today, so naturally I'm a bit exhausted. Please forgive me once again for getting this chapter out a couple days late.**

* * *

I was walking to Computer Graphics when I heard panting behind me and I turned and saw Gil running to the classroom.

"Hey Feli," he said quickly as he passed. He yanked open the door and yelled, "Dammit, Alfie, how the hell did you get here before me!? I thought I left you behind!"

I came up behind him and saw Al sitting in his spot. We went over to him as Mr. Wang shushed us.

"Guess I'm just faster than you," Al said, smirking. "I win."

Gil scowled. "Seeing how fast you move when you think you're _walking_, I shouldn't be surprised, but _still_ . . ." he threw his backpack to the ground and flopped into his chair.

"What?" Al said. "Do I walk fast or something?"

"Never mind. Hey, what are we doing today?"

"I think we're still playing around with text pictures," I piped up. "But it's due in a week, so we still have time."

"Last time we said that, we turned in the stuff two days late," Al pointed out, "but whatever, you're right, we got time."

Gil was about to reach into his backpack when he stopped and frowned. "Oh, right, no food or drink . . . dammit."

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," Al said, "how come you're wearing your uniform this year? You, like, _never_ wore it last year."

"Oh, yeah," Gil said. "Mattie's been bugging me about that, said that I could get more points just by wearing the damn thing, except he didn't actually say 'damn', but y'know, I read between the lines."

"You mean you're remembering it how _you_ would have said it?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Hey, guys?" I said. "What's eavesdropping mean?"

"Listening in on people," Gil said. "Francis said that this morning, right?"

"What's going on?" Al asked.

"I was gonna ask _you_ that," Gil said, turning back to him. "What were you and dear Mei talking about this morning?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Francis dragged me into the bushes to spy on you guys," I explained. "And later we found out that Gil did the same with Toni."

Al scowled. "Since when is my love life a high point of interest to y'all?"

"Francis makes it his business to know about _everyone's_ love life," Gil pointed out. "And as for me, I was just going with the flow."

"Spying _isn't_ 'going with the fl—'"

"So, spill. What was that whole thing about?"

Al rolled his eyes. "Fine. She said that her dad doesn't want us dating anymore, and I dunno _why_, 'cause she's the best girl ever and I'm _fantastic_. Anyway, she said that she still wants to go out with me, and apparently she's really scared of her dad 'cause he gets scary when he's mad, I dunno, maybe he yells a lot or something, so I figured doing that was really brave of her and I told her that we're still totally gonna date but we'll do it behind his back and she still seemed kind of nervous but LOVE CONQUERS ALL so she agreed and we kissed and stuff."

"Did you have to shout that part?" Gil muttered as Mr. Wang told us to be quiet. "Okay, cool, so you guys are still a thing."

"We're always gonna be a thing," Al exclaimed. "Speaking of things, when are you and Ludwig gonna get together, Feli?"

"Probably February," I said.

"Why not now?"

I didn't really want to explain, so I just said, "It's a long story."

"Oh, never mind then. What're you guys gonna wear for Kiku's ghost thing?"

"We haven't decided . . ."

"What about you and Mattie?" Al demanded, turning to Gil.

"We haven't decided either," Gil said. "You know that we all agreed to this thing only less than three hours ago, right?"

"Yeah, but I dunno, maybe you guys are psychic and worked something out with your weird mind powers already."

Gil stared at him. "Even _my_ awesomeness has limits."

"So you and Mattie aren't doing a weird mind thing?"

"No."

"Damn . . ." Al sighed. "That would have been so cool."

"Aren't you and Mattie more likely to do that thing?" Gil pointed out. "You guys are twins."

"Yeah, but we're _fraternal_ twins, we're not _identical _twins—not like Feli and Lovi—hey . . ."

"Feli!" Gil exclaimed. "Can you and Lovino do weird mind things?"

"No?" I said.

"You totally could, though," Gil said, reaching over and grabbing my curl. "If you use this thing like an antenna—"

I gasped. He looked at me and let go of the curl.

"Please don't touch my hair," I said quietly.

"Okay, sure," he said. "Did I hurt you? Sorry."

"I'm fine . . ."

Mr. Wang came over and told us to get to work or he'd bring up reinstating corporal punishment at the next PTA meeting.


End file.
